Retribution

Retribution is barely for those of us who fell in love with Neeson when he did the ultimate man meal Taken. Ever snice That trilogy I've been running to the theatres to watch Neeson flicks and this is the Frist time I actually said to myself why (which i now found surprising).

Not to say this was a bad movie, but it really seemed unnecessary. Wild thing, it feels like a similar plot to a better Neeson movie the Commuter. The movies may seem polarizingly deferent but if you seen The Commuter you'll notice the same plot devices creating the same loop holes in both, but the Commuter is worth seeing while i could have skipped Retribution altogether.

Of course there was no doubt about me having to sit down and watch this 2023 action crime thriller as it had Liam Neeson on the cast list. Sure, I had never even heard about the movie prior to watching it, not that it really mattered, as it was a Liam Neeson movie.

The storyline in "Retribution", as written by Alberto Marini and Christopher Salmanpour, sort of was very similar to the 1994 movie "Speed", except that it was lacking the high speed and adrenaline. It was watchable, for sure, but it was not a top notch movie for Liam Neeson. The storyline was a bit too much of a copy and paste of "Speed", except it was in a SUV and had a slightly different plot.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and while Liam Neeson didn't have a particular set of skills in "Retribution", then he still carried the movie well enough to make it a watchable movie. There are a couple of other familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, and Jack Champion.

I found "Retribution" to be somewhat lacking in thrills and excitement, and the movie's plot and storyline was a tad too linear and predictable for my liking. Plus, the fact that if you've already seen "Speed", then you have essentially also already seen director Nimród Antal's "Retribution".

Watchable for what it was, "Retribution" didn't impress me, nor did it revolutionize the action crime thriller genre. In fact, it didn't bring anything new at all to the genre. And on that account, my rating of director Nimród Antal's "Retribution" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

I went into this not knowing anything about it; I didn't know it was a remake nor what the plot is. Turns out, it's a contained thriller that's quite well-paced, managing to wring enough tension and suspense out of its simple premise with strong editing.

Neeson and some of the other cast members really do give it their all, and they bring life to the film that makes up for the bland direction and cinematography.

While most of the time the movie is compulsively watchable, what really holds it back is the script. It's bad.

It's a strange kind of bad that really does feel like this screenplay was generated by ChatGPT. Nearly all of the dialogue is stilted and generic, and the story moves kind of haphazardly, as though a machine were calculating what was the next appropriate action movie plot point to throw in next.

I guess it's better than many of the other beige action flicks Neeson has churned out over the years, but it's still far from good.

When I walked out of the theater I almost felt... empty... but I don't wanna say that the movie is bad, but... then again, I don't wanna say the movie is good either. It's your standard Liam Neeson thriller (with a little less action), but has the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. Luckily, the movie is only an hour and a half long, so it's not excruciatingly long. The main twist of the movie was sort of surprising, but at the same time made sense in the grand scheme of things, so I guess it could be considered 'predictable' depending on who you ask. I guess at this point I'll just throw it smack dab in the middle. As a I wrote before, not good, not bad. 5/10.

I don't know where to start.... The dialogues are bad, wooden, and cheesy. The acting is far from enjoyable. The characters are dull and absolutely undeveloped. There is no motivation for the bad guy I can find. The Police and "Europol" are far from realistic, and speaking of Europol: this is not a European FBI, as shown in the movies. And of course the way they show Berlin hurts to see. They drive down one street, the next turn he is 20km away in another part of the town.

I'm just happy I saw this in a sneak preview with cheap tickets, because if it was a regular screening with full price tickets I would have demanded a refund.